Watch: Peel Back the Layers of Reality With This Mind-Blowing ‘Black Sails’ Visual Effects Feat

Watch: Peel Back the Layers of Reality With This Mind-Blowing 'Black Sails' Visual Effects Feat

Special effects have certainly come a long way, especially as technology continues to advance at rapid speeds, serving as a bridge between our imaginations and reality. Without special effects, entertainment would be much different than how we know it — in fact, it might be much more bleak than we even begin to realize. With the fine assistance of Shade VFX, a company that has collaborated in the past with Netflix and Starz, we get to see how some of the most magical scenes truly come to life with a little post-production help.

In an exclusive video from Shade, we are given a fascinating visual breakdown of a particularly complex bit from a recent episode of "Black Sails." In the scene, there’s plenty of action involved, with horses, carriages and stunts galore. While it may look like just another day on an action show about pirates, plenty of work went into making a very complicated sequence look as seamless as it does in the final product.

Bryan Godwin, CEO of Shade VFX, said in a statement that "Shade was proud to take an even larger role on our second collaboration with Starz and Supervisor/EP Erik Henry for ‘Black Sails’ Season 3. The epic one-shot carriage chase was some of the most challenging work Shade has done to date. From CG horses, to digital stunt doubles and complex rigid and fluid dynamics, this shot had it all, AND it was 1916 frames long! Working closely with Erik and also Kevin Rafferty to dial in all the animation and effects, we were able to create an incredibly realistic, show-stopping cliffhanger."

Watch the exclusive video above, in which Shade VFX peels back all the different layers of visual effects that go into weaving together such an elaborate scene. Afterwards, take a look at the final cut of the scene here to see the results.

For more from Starz, watch the trailer for "The Girlfriend Experience" below…